IndiGo requests relief, no solace for travellers

India’s biggest airline IndiGo cancelled over 400 flights on Thursday — the third consecutive day of chaos — as the carrier admitted to aviation regulators that its operational meltdown stemmed from "misjudgment and planning gaps" in adapting to crew fatigue rules it had two years to prepare for.

- Neha LM Tripathi

The low-cost giant, which commands 60% of India's domestic market, has now cancelled more than 600 flights since Tuesday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers and laying bare the fragility of a business model predicated on relentless cost optimisation with minimal operational buffers. The crisis has also exposed the lack of choice for passengers in Indi